The #XperiaZ3 Project: Kaleidoscopic Madness!

Yeah, you read it right, the Xperia Z3 has one very cool feature that has been a part of the Xperia phone series since the Z1—the Kaleidoscope filter. This nifty little effect is hidden away within the Creative Effects menu of the Xperia Z3.

How Do You Find It?
All you need to do is launch the Camera app, and then tap on the little dial to the left of the shutter release button (if you’re holding the phone vertically). Here’s where you’ll find plenty of Scene Modes and interesting filters. The one you need to get to is the Creative Effects option. Once you click on it, the camera interface changes into a scrolling bar that has a variety of filters, beginning with Kaleidoscope.

Could you imagine that the potted plants and shrubs in your garden could look so completely different? Photograph/K Madhavan Pillai

How does it Work?Most of you must have tinkered with kaleidoscopes that your parents must have bought from a fair or a toy shop. These toys were nothing but cylinders with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As you would look into one end, light entering the other would create beautiful, colourful patterns. Now, the Kaleidoscope filter of the Xperia Z3 transforms the world in front of you into the craziest patterns possible.

What do you think this is? Microorganisms seen through a microscope? Nope. This is an overhead lamp as seen by the Kaleidoscope filer of the #XperiaZ3. Photograph/Ambarin Afsar

How do you Get the Best Out of it?Once you choose the Kaleidoscope filter, it applies the effect in real time and you get to see what the final image looks like immediately. You don’t need to imagine what the frame will be as the effect is functional in live view. The pattern keeps changing with a slight shift of the phone, so you will have to keep up with it.

These are the handles on a stack of cabinets. You can zoom into the pattern to get a magnified view like this. Photograph/Ambarin Afsar

Or, you can zoom out slightly to create a smaller pattern. Photograph/Ambarin Afsar

Alternatively, you can fill the frame with multitudes of tiny patterns by zooming out even further. Photograph/Ambarin Afsar

Which Subjects Can You Shoot?Practically everything! From trees, plants and flowers, to even people! All you need to do is ensure that when you’re framing the pattern, your subject should be at least partially distinguishable. This adds to the surreal nature of your final kaleidoscopic image. Simply moving the phone around slowly will bring you face to face with a horde of subjects right in your office, home or even building compound.

Here are a few nifty video that show you exactly how the effect looks in camera! Best viewed in Full HD

And for more kaleidoscopic madness, have a look at this gallery shot by Ambarin Afsar and K Madhavan Pillai, using the Xperia Z3!